Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Amendment Bill 2021

MUTUAL RECOGNITION (NEW SOUTH WALES) AMENDMENT BILL 2021

Mr JUSTIN CLANCY (Albury) (11:42): I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Amendment Bill 2021. As a member for an electorate that has a State border, this legislation has significance. It is certainly not the first attempt at improving what has been a bugbear for border communities for a great period of time. I can also speak as a professional veterinarian. When I first returned to the border in 2003, I had to have two separate registrations to do the same job on each side of the river. The legislation is well overdue. It is good to see the bill before the House. I welcome it, and I thank the Treasurer and his team for bringing the bill before the House. It is certainly timely.

It is not just for border communities; it is an important economic reform across the nation as New South Wales lays the foundations to drive an even stronger post‑pandemic economy in the long term. Automatic mutual recognition is the sort of structural reform that will reduce red tape associated with occupational licensees moving interstate. It will help New South Wales access the skilled labour needed to assist with economic recovery following COVID‑19. During the bushfires at the start of last year we found out how important it is to get skilled workers across borders to be able to respond to natural disasters. Having to have duplication of registration is just another roadblock there. During those fires, New South Wales faced acute shortages in the trades required for rebuilding. Sadly with the floods the challenges of rebuilding will also be there.

Automatic mutual recognition would enable skilled interstate workers to assist with rebuilding efforts more quickly. This means the downtime following a natural disaster will be reduced and households, community and businesses can get back to normal more quickly. As I touched on, automatic mutual recognition significantly benefits cross‑border regions. I mentioned my own experiences, and a number of constituents have written to my office around the impact of mutual recognition. For example, a licence holder in a cross‑border region like Albury would be able to perform the same work in Wodonga without seeking permission or paying two registration fees, one for New South Wales and one for Victoria. In that sense, a New South Wales registered plumber would save at least $357 over three years in registration fees to work in a nearby border city such as Wodonga.

It also benefits businesses with interstate operations. For example, an architecture firm based in New South Wales and operating remotely could save around $600 per worker through applying for automatic mutual recognition for their architects to work in Victoria and South Australia. Whilst that has been cited, I can also speak as a business owner in a veterinary practice to say that the duplication of registrations is an impost on both the employee and the business. With regard to the impact in Albury, when considering legislation designed to reduce red tape and stimulate employment and business activity, it helps to listen to the community about situations where recognition of qualifications can become an issue and an impediment to the smooth operation of a business or activity.

Living on the southern border, I can say that is a daily discussion for business operators and their staff. I have sought input from constituents on mutual recognition. Building trade licences are perhaps the most common source of problems on the border, where a construction business will have customers in New South Wales and Victoria. Businesses have ways of getting things done and managing staff to cover different locations and tasks, but that is not ideal. It presents a real administrative burden that brings no economic benefit to anyone. During our conversations around mutual recognition, other issues have been raised around the border and the fact that it becomes an interface and a barrier at times. An issue that has been raised with me in recent days is the need for different State Working With Children Check processes. For some, there is the cost of two fees to meet the one outcome. Those checks are a standard part of employment for many in our communities.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made a series of findings around Working With Children Checks and working towards a national approach. I welcome comments from Cross Border Commissioner James McTavish to say that they are working on it. New South Wales is in the lead on that matter in terms of harmonisation across States. Responsible service of alcohol qualifications continue to be an issue where an event on the border is staffed by people with qualifications that are from out of State. That kind of discrimination for qualifications can prevent a business, club, bar or council from simply staffing an event with good, suitable employees. The questions an employer must always be asking are, "What is the required qualification?" and, "Is it State based?"

I might add that it flows over to the community sector. Our sporting clubs play games on both sides of the border, with players and parents of players coming from New South Wales and Victoria. When the event involves service of alcohol, the club has to be careful that the parent who so helpfully volunteers to help in that social or fundraising activity has the qualification appropriate for the State where the game takes place. There is no benefit in having that administrative burden. A constituent wrote to me with these words:

Can something be done so farmers can work across borders easier, regarding vehicle and shooting licences and tractor registrations as at the moment if we have a NSW shooters licence we can't store guns at our Victorian property and we can't drive tractors or other farm machinery across borders either as you can't hold both a NSW and a Victorian licence or registration. It has to be one or the other. The same with a vehicle licence.

I appreciate that while elements of those inquiries perhaps go beyond the strict scope of the bill presently before us, they give us a taste or the flavour of where the unnecessary hurdles and cost burdens lie, not just for businesses, including farmers and primary producers, but also for border residents as part of the fabric of their daily life. Data from New South Wales agencies indicates that at least a 1.6 million occupational registrations are held in this State, including interstate licences recognised by New South Wales agencies and that 8.4 per cent of new occupational registrations were made under mutual recognition in 2018-19. Consumers and businesses will benefit from a more diverse labour supply and greater competition between local and interstate licence holders. The increased competition will drive down prices and provide better quality services. The Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme will deliver economic benefits to the nation, improve productivity and prosperity.

The Commonwealth has estimated benefits from Automatic Mutual Recognition of $2.4 billion nationally over the next 10 years due to more productive allocation of labour and capital in the economy—a significant portion of which will flow to New South Wales. Given that the Commonwealth Mutual Recognition Act 1992 is already in place, the question may be asked: Why is an updated referral needed? Although the system in place recognises occupational licences from other jurisdictions, this new framework will provide a quicker and less expensive alternative. Under the current scheme workers still need to apply for recognition of their home licence and pay another fee to work in another State or Territory.

The existing mutual recognition also relies on schedules to specify equivalent occupational registrations between jurisdictions. Those schedules are complex, cumbersome and have not been updated fully since 2009. That has left them out of date compared to today's qualifications and licences. The bill amends the Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Act 1992 to replace the existing amendment referral and establish a new one. The new amendment referral will enable the Commonwealth Parliament to make amendments to the Commonwealth Act relating to the mutual recognition of occupations and goods. The Commonwealth believes that the existing amendment referrals in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania should not be relied upon to implement automatic mutual recognition. [Extension of time]

I welcome the opportunity to speak further. This will enable the Commonwealth Government to pass its proposed amendments to the Commonwealth Mutual Recognition Act 1992 to implement a new uniform Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme for occupation registrations across State and Territory borders. The Commonwealth, States and the Northern Territory have all come together and agreed to a new Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme for occupational registrations. In December 2020, the Premier and all First Ministers, except the Australian Capital Territory, signed an intergovernmental agreement which commits signatories to implementing a national Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme by 1 July 2021.

New South Wales is leading the way by being the first State to update referral powers to enable the Commonwealth to pass legislation to give effect to Automatic Mutual Recognition. Should future Commonwealth amendments not be supported by Parliament, the updated referral powers can be terminated by proclamation by the New South Wales Governor. The core principle of this new framework is that a person can automatically perform the same activities that they are licensed to perform in their home jurisdiction in a second jurisdiction—without seeking permission or paying additional registration fees. Automatic Mutual Recognition will make it easier and less expensive for businesses and workers to operate across jurisdictions. People pay a registration fee only when they renew their licence in their home jurisdiction. If people move permanently to a new jurisdiction they would then register with their new home authority and pay a fee. It will reduce red tape associated with occupational licences moving interstate. There will be more freedom to find work where the jobs are available and it will mean more money in the pockets of workers.

The Treasurer spoke about the challenges and benefits of Federation for this nation. For most Australians, Federation is an abstract concept. It is not something we live. It is a dusty detail from the past, but that is not so on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. I am sure the member for Tweed would say that is also not so on the border that his electorate shares with Queensland, and never more so than during the COVID pandemic. Every border crossing permit, every application for an exemption from restrictions, every trip from Albury to a surgeon in Melbourne has been a reminder that Federation is not a mute witness to current events but remains an active participant in daily life.

My office staff have spent the last year answering questions from desperate and distressed Australians about how there can be a border closure that denies them access to schooling, normal childcare arrangements, jobs and interstate health care. That is not new. It is in essence the same conversation that parents have when they are confused about sending their child to TAFE in Victoria or New South Wales. It is the same problem that builders and other cross‑border businesses must work through to get the job done. The bill is an important step in taking on the bigger picture of how to free our State and national economies from the burden of lack of recognition of qualifications and administrative costs. I support the bill.